Second AQ Hunt

[tvr]

Water levels were pretty good today. I hit an older area that gave me a ring a few years back. Set knobs to presets except volume (full); threshold was at 4 and hunted all metal.

A thanks again to Clive, the edges are easier to hear than previous hunt, but I don't think I'm anywhere near as tuned in yet as I got with the HHPulse.

Got some old pull tabs, brass screws, other junk. I focused on faint targets; and this thing is deep. On one of the pennies, I started digging at belly deep and when I got it out, water was breaching the top of the chest waders when I stood on the scoop to sink it. The only things that a magnet sticks to are the one encrusted bottle cap and the big blob in the lower left corner that I think is an old furniture caster wheel.

Right now for me, a three hour battery run is just fine. As cdv noted, this detector will get me in shape or kill me.

 

[okara gold]

Third time's the charm!

[cdv]

" Set knobs to presets except volume (full); threshold was at 4 and hunted all metal.

A thanks again to Clive, the edges are easier to hear than previous hunt, but I don't think I'm anywhere near as tuned in yet as I got with the HHPulse."

Glad to see you are tuning yourself in on the sounds of the AQ.  I'm back out there today (water conditions permitting) along with Dewcon with hopes of checking live targets to compare with the MDT. I spent so much time out there yesterday putzing with the knobs I can't realistically say what settings I was on so today is a concerted effort to "learn" the machine sounds by turning down the sensitivity a touch and sticking with some settings. Had to go back to see what exactly Clive had written and it is archived now in an AQ word file along with some other bits of AQ info to re-read later. Easier to find that way.

Another comment.... Volume maxed..... I found I "needed" maxed volume with the stock battery and phones....however, now with OBN's battery and the M12 headphone connector, I was able to use different phones..... Decibel levels nearly doubled and am using a volume level around 5 now and can really lower it further..... Threshold is now easily heard at 5 and I believe I could go lower on a non-windy day!

Funny, I have a HH Pulse sitting out in the garage that I haven't used in a few years..... any takers out there?

Cliff

[Carolina]

Cliff, the dual piezo phones that came with the AQ lacked the volume I needed also. I ended up with a set of Pro Gold phones with volume controls for each ear and a toggle switch I re wired as a disconnect switch. I can balance my phones now ( right ear not as good as left ). I can also run the detector volume on 10 and turn down the phones or vise versa. I have yet to make it in the Bay chest deep but am not worried about dropping the phones in the water. My general rule of thumb settings are all metal, volume as above, sensitivity 4 or 5 ( you can run it hot wide open if not looking for the deep deep deep targets because of chatter ) threshold 4 ATS 6, delay normally 9 or 10. Tones mode all the above except ATS for me is 8 1/2 reject 3 1/2. Good luck with Dew. He may not be able to get within 30 feet of you hahahahaha. When I hunt the wash, all who pass by me just shake their heads in disgust and turn down the volume on their machines. This thing pumps out some power!!!

[CCadrin]

Cliff, what phones are you using on the M12?  

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

Good report TVR, water levels the next few days are really good so I will be out Sunday,.. looks like. I may have close to 100 hours on the "AQ" ..Plus the time I spent testing. After all of this I'm still not confident enough to take the "AQ" to any beach. Hopefully we will see the smaller coil by christmas which I think will help in the trashy area's.

How you doing on Pinpointing...And what do you think about the bigger coil swing speed? Interesting to note what someone in our area see's with the "AQ".

[tvr]

1 hour ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

How you doing on Pinpointing...And what do you think about the bigger coil swing speed?

I don’t think the coil drag is bad. I really need time on wet sand to play with coil speed to see how speed changes what it is saying. We have a trip at end of December that puts me on the right beach to do that. My biggest gripe at the moment with the big coil is that, in the two little areas I’ve hunted, that I thought were pretty well cleared of trash, I’m finding the areas more target rich than expected. I have not come close to covering much of these two very small beaches and have a target to explore with nearly every step forward. An 8 inch coil would be nice just to have more space where I’m not finding a target.

Pinpointing is not bad. The spoon and the thin walled brass tube both threw me off a little and turning 90 degrees to dig the side of the hole out brought both of those targets up. The coins stayed well centered until they came out. 12 inch coil with 7 inch scoop means turning coil on edge to get into the hole helps verify where the target is. Beyond knee deep in these waters is all locating by feel since the coil can’t be seen; you know how that is!

[tvr]

9 hours ago, tvr said:

in the two little areas I’ve hunted, that I thought were pretty well cleared of trash, I’m finding the areas more target rich than expected.

For clarity I should add that I've hit these two little areas hard with a CZ20, SandShark, Excal and HHPulse over a several year period. That is why I am surprised at the target density I'm finding with the Impulse AQ.

I'll also say that I like the headphone volume level. At full volume, I am not in pain at a surface or near surface target hit and the more faint signals are deep. On the first hunt, when one of the neighbors came over on his kayak and talked a little, I had to take the headset off to hear him, so there is some level of outside sound isolation. I haven't hit the ocean waves and higher winds yet. I see some have gone for louder headsets; so far, I think the stock ones are about right.

[dewcon4414]

Thomas... Cliff wouldn’t let me touch his machine lol.  We really didn’t get to compare targets.  He was running the trough to see if it was worth continuing to hunt this beach.  We were working it hard.  We talked a bit and I was pretty close... I heard his machine low and constant but I honestly don’t think it would have bothered me hunting.  Didn’t ask Tim who was using the Xcal.   Joes battery was well done... and the machine very well balanced.